Standard C1: Adheres to professional ethical standards
Benchmarks:
Honors human dignity
Models and encourages respect for intellectual and cultural values
Models and encourages integrity, responsibility and moral action
Models and encourages emotional wellness, care, compassion and commitment to the learning community
Develops relationships with students, colleagues and parents that are based on trust, empathy, fairness and honesty
Practices professional trust, confidentiality and reliability
Wow, this is a serious standard to try to live up to, and one that's hard to document. As evidence, I am attaching Max Wang's image of me as an IB student, since it mentions some of the personal qualities at issue here. Max Wang picture & note.pdf
Standard C2: Fosters effective communication
Benchmarks:
Communicates in a timely manner with students, colleagues, and parents.
Communicates in a clear, respectful and appropriate manner.
Communication of the kind that is the aim of this standard requires continual attention, of a kind that can be difficult to sustain when we all receive such a high volume of communication and information, especially through email. Do messages occasionally get snowed under and missed? Yes. Do some replies not get the thoughtfulness that they should? Yes. Do I think I generally communicate in an effective manner? I think and hope so.
In the parent surveys from 2009-10 and 2010-11, 100% of the (admittedly few) parents who responded answered "yes" to the prompt "The teacher communicates with me in a respectful and professional manner."
Standard C3: Fosters positive relationships within the learning community
Benchmarks:
Cultivates a professional working relationship with colleagues
Establishes and maintains relationships with parents and students to support student growth and development
Demonstrates dedication in their care and commitment to students
Supports SAS vision, mission, core values and EAGLES
Participates in, and supports, team decision making and team-building
In the parent surveys from 2009-10 and 2010-11, 100% of the parents who responded answered "yes" to the prompt "The teacher is committed to the care and academic success of my child."
In the student survey, in response to the prompt "My teacher supports my development and cares about me" there was one student in 2009-10 who wrote that the statement does not apply (!) and one in 2010-11 who disagreed. This is an area where it seems appropriate to strive for and even expect 100% positive responses. Nevertheless, I can say without reservation that I am doing my best in this regard.
In terms of professional relationships with colleagues, one of the most rewarding aspects of serving as IB Coordinator here has been the chance to work closely with colleagues from all departments. The moment that I remember best from my IB Coordinator training workshop is when the presenter talked about LBWA -- Leadership by Walking About -- I have tried always to remember and act on this principle.
Benchmarks 4 and 5 are demonstrated in my work in some of the school-wide initiative groups listed under the next standard, and (I hope) in my day-to-day work as well.
Standard C4: Demonstrates service to the learning community
Benchmarks:
Participates in community events, student activities and /or school improvement initiatives
Demonstrates involvement in student life and co-curricular activities.
Coordinated the IB 5-Year Review Self-Study, easily the biggest project I have ever taken on professionally
Served on the SAS-wide Assessment Task Force, responsible for the creation of the Assessment Policy draft
Served on the Pudong HS assessment planning team responsible for planning the assessment-related activities for PD days and Wednesday afternoon meetings
Served on the HS Leadership Team every year
Served as the grade-level advisor for the Class of 2011 in both grades 11 and 12
Coordinated the HS component of the PTSA Giving Tree project in 2009 and 2010
Became the faculty sponsor for the Leukemia Hospital Club starting in August 2010
Helped out at other events, e.g. Senior retreat, 30-Hour Famine
Standard C5: Commits to ongoing professional learning
Benchmarks:
Engages in self evaluation
Seeks opportunities for professional growth to support SAS school improvement initiatives
Commits to on-going self-directed learning that is informed by experience, research, collaboration and knowledge
Promotes and participates in collaborative, safe, and supportive learning communities
By far my most significant professional learning at SAS has come from trying to perform the duties of IB Coordinator and all the related tasks. Through this work I have come to develop a strong knowledge of the various dimensions of the IB Program, and also of SAS Pudong HS. From this point of view, the IB 5-Year Review Self-Study wiki can be thought of as a massive final project, documenting much of this learning. SAS Pudong IB 5-Year Review wiki
I try to learn from colleagues as much as I can. In particular, Carolyn Bailey helped me to make significant changes to the way I organize my classes on a day-to-day level. I believe that I have always had a student-centered mind-set as a teacher, but she helped me to embed a student-centered approach in the actual organization of my lessons.
Some of the school-wide task forces and committees I have served on have been sources of much professional learning, especially the Assessment Task Force. I volunteered for this task force mainly to try to make sure that IB values and perspectives were included in the Assessment Policy, but ended up with much food for thought as well. I must say that this learning starts with a realization of how much more I could do in this domain.
In terms of more formal types of professional learning:
I have been fortunate to attend the IB Asia-Pacific Annual Regional Conference the past 5 years. IB Asia Pacific Conf program.pdf
I took an online course on Fathom (a statistics software package), and did a TTT presentation with Carolyn to share some of what we learned in the course. Fathom docs.pdf
Benchmarks:
Standard C2: Fosters effective communication
Benchmarks:
Communication of the kind that is the aim of this standard requires continual attention, of a kind that can be difficult to sustain when we all receive such a high volume of communication and information, especially through email. Do messages occasionally get snowed under and missed? Yes. Do some replies not get the thoughtfulness that they should? Yes. Do I think I generally communicate in an effective manner? I think and hope so.
Standard C3: Fosters positive relationships within the learning community
Benchmarks:
Standard C4: Demonstrates service to the learning community
Benchmarks:
Standard C5: Commits to ongoing professional learning
Benchmarks: